Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries)

by Tyora Moody

  Detective Wilkes’ face was unreadable when we arrived at the police station.

  I asked, “Do I need to get my daughter a lawyer?”

  The detective replied. “That won’t be necessary, Mrs. Patterson.”

  I eyed the detective before walking away. Someone had been trying to set my daughter up. I hoped the detective recognized she had been focusing on the wrong person all this time.

  So, while my daughter was being questioned as a person of interest, I kept Kisha preoccupied while I held Tyric. Poor baby boy! I suspect Leesa may have been suffering from a bit of postpartum with this child. Wasn’t evident with Kisha, but it’s possible her hormones were making her feel emotionally detached and depressed. When this was all over, I would insist Cedric direct her to some help.

  I looked at my precious grandson thankful that God answered prayers. I held a child I possibly never could have met. For that I was grateful. I always prayed for my children to be granted wisdom. Even when they didn’t always understand, I hoped that they would be motivated to do the right thing.

  Tyric’s big brown eyes sparkled and he gurgled. He was a happy little thing. Going to be a big boy like his daddy too.

  Something buzzed in my pocketbook.

  Kisha stopped playing with her doll. “Grandma, isn’t that your phone?”

  “Oh, you right baby. That sure is.”

  I reached in and grabbed the ringing phone from my mammoth handbag.

  “Hello.”

  “Mama. I wanted to call to tell you, Judy, the kids and I would be there in three hours.”

  “What?” Oh then I remembered. Junior mentioned he was bringing the family to visit. So much had happened in one week.

  Before I could tell Junior about his sister, he rattled on about frying fish and firing up his dad’s grill. That boy always had food on his mind. Seeing the condition I was facing now, Junior would have to be careful. We had heart disease and diabetes running its course in our family.

  When that boy found out about his sister, my son’s blood pressure would surely rise.

  No need to give a person more than they could bite off and chew.

  Chapter 30

  By the time we were back to the house, Leesa was off the hook and I had purchased several pounds of fish from the fish market.

  Amos met us coming out of the car.

  “Well, how did things go?”

  I handed him a brown bag. “I think we are good. Still no idea about who killed Mary though. Do you mind helping me carry these into the house?”

  “Sure.” He peeked into the bag. “You got a lot of fish here, planning to have a fish fry.”

  “My son is coming and he has his mouth is ready for some good eating. Why don’t you come join us, that is if you don’t have nothing better to do? I could use some help.”

  I tell you I had to be losing my mind or just that audacious to invite a man over to my house. Ralph used to be the one to clean fish, so I was hoping Amos wouldn’t mind helping. Quite frankly, I preferred not to touch them if I could get someone else to do so.

  Amos grinned. “You got yourself a deal.”

  So, about forty minutes later, we’re in the kitchen, me getting the cornmeal mix ready and Amos hanging out over my kitchen sink scraping scales from the fish.

  I looked out the window and watched Kisha and Porgy running around. I was pleased to see Leesa holding Tyric.

  The doorbell rang. Junior and his family were not due for another hour. I opened the door to find a neighbor.

  I put on my best smile. “Carmen, how are you? Come on in.”

  The woman looked at me with concern. “How are you? Is everything okay?”

  “Girl, it’s a long story, but my daughter is back.”

  “She is?”

  I had a thought as I examined Carmen’s incredulous expression. “Why don’t you come back in the kitchen? I will introduce you two.”

  I cleared my throat when I returned to the kitchen. Amos turned from the sink. He eyed me and then nodded at Carmen.

  I opened the door and called out to Leesa.

  “Yeah Mama, what is it?”

  Carmen stared at Leesa, almost in awe. “Wow, you really are back?”

  Leesa frowned, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

  Okay, this was what I was looking for. I glanced over at Amos and noticed he stopped scraping fish scales long enough to watch the interaction. I had a feeling we were thinking the same thing. Although for the life of me, I didn’t see any motive that would lead to Carmen killing one neighbor and almost killing another.

  “Yeah, I remember now.” Leesa shook her head. “I saw you out with Cedric. Y’all still dating?”

  “Dating?” Carmen and I squawked.

  As Carmen and I stared at each other, a voice hollered into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s going on back in there?”

  Speaking of the devil, Cedric strolled in. All of us seemed frozen. Except for Kisha. She ran into her favorite uncle’s arms.

  Cedric lifted his niece up. “Hey boo! What’s happening?”

  Kisha giggled, “Uncle Ceddy, look Mama is here.”

  Cedric looked at Leesa, then turned and did a double take at Carmen. For a moment his eyes stopped on Amos who had promptly turned back around to the fish. Cedric’s eyes stopped on me, and then he asked, “You got a party or something going on in here? I guess for the prodigal daughter.”

  Leesa threw her hands in the air and huffed. “What? I took a break okay. I did not ask all y’all to lose your minds.”

  Cedric placed Kisha on the floor and argued back with his sister. “You should have told Mama where you were going.”

  I held my hand to my head. “That’s enough you two? You are adults!”

  “Maybe I should be going?” Carmen made a move to leave the kitchen, but was blocked by a larger figure.

  Despite his huge girth, my eldest child had quietly arrived and stood in the doorway observing all of us. Junior’s voice boomed, “What’s going on in here, folks?”

  Behind my son, I saw my daughter-in-law peeking around Junior’s shoulder. The twins squeezed into the kitchen, one on each side of their father. They headed straight to me.

  “Grandma, grandma.”

  “Hey babies.” I loved these boys, but even as I hugged them, my energy was zapped. They wiggled and giggled, ready to get into something.

  “Who’s that?”

  I looked over at Junior, who frowned and stared in the direction of my kitchen sink. There Amos continued to stand, cleaning fish in the midst of the chaos my family had slung into my house.

  In less than twelve hours my children and their children, some with questionable love interests had all assembled in my kitchen.

  It was almost perfect.

  Almost.

  Chapter 31

  Junior glared at Amos and then turned questioning eyes on me. Amos didn’t exactly volunteer, but I invited him and I wasn’t about to take any mess from my eldest. I had enough dealing with my youngest this week.

  “Ralph, Jr., I know I taught you better manners than that. You remember Mr. Amos Jones, my next door neighbor. He volunteered to help clean fish.”

  To keep from having to answer any further questions, I shooed the little ones and the men outside to the backyard. I’m sure it was a shock to both of my sons having another man around me. Certainly, my children didn’t expect me to not move forward with life.

  Not that I was looking for anything further with Amos. Aren’t we too old?

  After the chaos had settled a bit and everyone had eaten, Cora stopped by and joined me in the kitchen with the younger women, Leesa, Carmen and Judy.

  As Cora fixed her plate, my daughter-in-law commented, “I can’t remember the last time I cooked a meal.”

  Cora piped up, “What do you feed your husband and children? Child, you can’t survive on McDonald’s food, you know?”

  I had to agree with Cora, but I couldn’t talk. My two grandsons were on the
chubby side the same way Junior was when he was their age. Unfortunately, the weight never seems to quite go away but increases the older you get.

  Judy appeared to be tired. “With those two rascals out there, just to get them settled down so I can cook is a chore. I hate to admit it, but I feel like such a failure as a mom when it comes to feeding my kids.”

  Leesa joined in, “Kisha can be such a picky eater. Now I have two mouths to feed. At least you have my brother to help you.”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “Your brother is not much help.”

  I glanced over at Judy. Junior was starting to sound like his late father. I cleared my throat. “Well, I had my two sons, two years apart mind you. I was barely twenty-one when I learned how to crank out all those meals. I can understand where you are coming from, but we have to pay attention to what the kids are eating.” Then, I smiled. “You know Leesa, remember when Mary’s family and ours would trade nights?”

  Leesa smiled. “Yeah, I remember. I would sit with Jennifer and talk outside. Mr. Fleming made the best burgers. So much has changed.”

  There was a bit of silence as Leesa and I reminisced. Carmen and Judy seemed to understand what we were thinking.

  Leesa leaned forward on the table. “Mama, who do you think killed Mary? I still can’t believe all the Flemings are gone. Just like Dad.”

  “Not gone for good honey.” I knew Leesa still struggled a bit with her faith. “You know we will see them all again. I have been trying to figure out who would harm Mary.”

  Cora chimed in, “Sounds like the biggest issue is motive, because you said she wasn’t robbed.”

  “That’s awful.” Judy shook her head.

  I had noticed for about thirty minutes Judy rubbed her belly quite a bit.

  “Judy. Is there something you need to tell me?”

  Her eyes grew wide. “What do you mean?”

  I didn’t want any more surprises and I had a sneaky feeling Judy wasn’t tired just from the three-hour drive. I sighed, “So when you due?”

  “How did you know I was pregnant?”

  “Just a guess. Believe me.” I glanced at Leesa. “I don’t always figure these things out.”

  Leesa grinned sheepishly. “This is great. Tyric will have someone close to his age. Do you know what it is?”

  Judy shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “No. To be honest I just found out a few days ago. I’ve been tired, but I didn’t think it was... anyway I haven’t told Junior. So you can’t say anything.”

  What is with this family and secrets?

  “Well, you can’t keep that type of information for too long.”

  “Wow, that’s wonderful. I can tell all of you really love your children,” Carmen commented as her bright face turned red around the cheeks.

  I’d almost forgotten Carmen was in the kitchen. She’d been so quiet. The way she sat in the chair reminded me of the time I saw her in the hospital cafeteria with the headphones in her ears. Carmen’s eyes had begun to water. “Honey, you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Sorry. Don’t mind me. I really like your family, Mrs. Patterson. Growing up, my family moved around a lot. Then when I was about thirteen I found out I was adopted. I’ve no doubt they loved me, but I always wondered about my birth mother.”

  “Have you ever thought about looking for her?”

  “I did once, but I saw how it bothered my adoptive mother so much, I stopped.”

  The things you don’t know about folks. I looked at Carmen, examining her face, now that I know she was adopted. I’m not sure why, but the spirit stirred inside me. I did tend to fly off the handle thinking the worst of people when I didn’t quite understand. This woman might be what my Cedric needed in his life.

  My thoughts were interrupted by squealing and yapping. Kisha and Porgy burst through the kitchen door. “Okay, you two take it outside. That dog is not to be in my kitchen.”

  Judy asked, “Eugeena, when did you get a dog?”

  “It’s my neighbor Mary’s dog. I felt sorry for the poor thing after ... finding her. Besides he makes good company.”

  As I guzzled down the rest of my iced tea, my mind fixated on one thought. The night of her death, Mary hadn’t brought the dog back in. What would have caused her to leave Porgy outside? Maybe the person who came by the house that day really didn’t like dogs. But Mary could have left the dog in another room. Was Mary outside when the visitor came by?

  “Mama, you okay?” Leesa nudged my elbow, interrupting my thoughts.

  “I’m fine. Just thinking.” If only the little four-legged creature could talk. He would be what this case really needed. A solid witness.

  Chapter 32

  Sunday morning was quiet despite the fact that I had a house full of people. Porgy managed to make his way on the bed again and I didn’t move him. My daughter was scot-free and sleeping safely down the hall, but a crime had been committed. There were too many unanswered questions.

  Maybe Mary’s house was about to be burglarized and she surprised the thief. The thief killed her and then decided it wasn’t worth taking anything. It would have been real easy to leave a fingerprint or fibers somewhere for the cops to pick up on.

  No longer wanting to look at the ceiling, I decided to start breakfast. I didn’t know if I could round up everyone for church later in the morning, but breakfast may help.

  Porgy beat me into the kitchen. I filled up his bowl and set fresh water down. Filling up a coffee pot with fresh water, I decided it would be good idea to introduce my baked cheese grits to the rest of the family.

  As picky as Kisha was about eating, she seemed to like the grits. Then again she was like her grandmother; anything with cheese was alright with her.

  An apron lay across one of the kitchen chairs. It was the one I gave Amos to wear yesterday to protect his clothes. I guess that’s why Junior had such a strong reaction since it was his father’s apron.

  I’m still not sure what all happened yesterday. It been awhile since I’d had my entire family together. God answered many prayers of mine in one swoop. I blinked in order to keep the rush of tears that flowed into my eyes from falling down my face. It didn’t work. I heaved and then wiped my wet face.

  Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy. You are so good to me and I know I don’t deserve it.

  I heard a noise behind me. My eyes met my firstborn son. “Junior, what you doing up so early?”

  “I could ask you the same thing. Kind of early to be starting breakfast.”

  “There’s a lot of people in this house. Even Cedric stayed over last night. Want some coffee for starters?”

  “Sure!” Junior pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. “So you and Mr. Amos an item?”

  Now my hand wasn’t wet, but the coffee cup I grabbed from the cabinet went sliding and then crashed to the floor. “Not that cup.” The large mug had been with me for years. In fact it was a past Christmas gift from Mary, at least ten years old. Why did I suddenly recognize all these memories of Mary? She seemed so much a part of my life and other times, a distant memory.

  I missed her more than I ever thought I would.

  Junior jumped up and grabbed the broom from the closet. “I’ll get it.”

  I pulled down another cup and poured the brewed coffee. Porgy came over to inspect the pieces on the floor with his nose. “No, you don’t. Come here.”

  I picked up the dog that covered my face with what must be doggie kisses. I didn’t quite have that in mind. “Okay, you. That is not necessary. You are a little mess.”

  “You are really keeping that dog?”

  “Of course I am. I like animals. Your dad didn’t like them at least not in the house. Porgy here will make good company.”

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a watch dog.” Junior swept up the remains of the cup and after he emptied the shards he added quietly, “And you have Amos?”

  “Excuse me.” I am not interested in Amos and even if I was I surely wasn’t discussing my love
life with my son.

  “I’m just saying, he’s a nice guy. We had some great conversations yesterday. He seemed real keen on you.”

  I stopped petting Porgy at this point. “What does that mean?”

  “He helped you look for Leesa. Wants to solve who killed Mary.”

  “He is a former detective, which I appreciate. A very helpful neighbor.” I emphasized neighbor as I looked at my son. “He does cut the grass for me. Cedric never seems to have time to get over here.”

  “Must make you feel good to have a man looking after you.”

  I frowned. What was wrong with the boy? That kind of talk I expected from Cedric, even Leesa, not Junior. “Son, are you okay?”

  Junior sighed and then took another slurp of coffee. “I guess it didn’t hit me until last night, being back in the house.” He continued, “It just kind of put me at-ease some, that you had a decent neighbor especially with what happened to Louise. You didn’t tell me about her being attacked the other night.” His voice turned accusatory.

  Louise. My dear friend. I didn’t get to go by the hospital to see her with all the excitement of Leesa’s return. “You know I need to get to the hospital and see Louise. Did you know her son, William, is in town?”

  “Really, I hadn’t seen him in years. What’s he up to now?”

  “I have no idea, but the last time he spoke he was threatening to put Louise in a nursing home. I don’t know if I would like that at all.”

  “People have to do what they need to do to protect the folks they love, Mom.”

  “Yeah, well he could have thought about visiting his mother more. That woman pined away over him.”

  Why did William just show back up in town out of the blue? That slipped my mind too. He came back just as his mother was brutally attacked. I let it go and concentrated on the meal. Soon the rest of the family woke up and to my delight everyone attended church.

  The Brown twins stared and I grinned back. I was a proud mama this morning and really didn’t care what they were thinking.

  Back at the house as I watched my family laughing and talking my thoughts turned to Louise. I needed to go see her. When Louise woke up she could surely send the police in the right direction. If she’s lucid enough, she could possibly help them sketch out the suspect.